SWARM! (Student Writers And Readers Meet!) is The Telling Room’s network of youth writing and publishing groups from across the State of Maine. Students meet, write, share, and publish their stories and poems in a connected set of writing groups (the Hives), and collectively here, as SWARM!

The stories produced in Hive 31 are a mix of realistic, futuristic, and historical fiction. There’s a character with vital personal information to share who’s about to sit down for a holiday meal with their close-knit family; a self-designated “machine” trying to sort itself out in mysterious circumstances; orphans living in a group home in historic London; and a girl waiting for a ride home after her soccer match. 

We explore different poetic forms because the structure of a container can often help frame thoughts that might otherwise feel too scattered to collect. Sometimes the form can give structure to a first draft, then fall away as the poet continues to refine their message, but a few of those forms worked so well for the poets that the final version appears in this volume. The poets of Hive 32 found, as poets often do, that free verse poetry that forgoes rules about line length and rhyme, allows them to best capture what’s going on in their hearts and minds. These poets touch on human universals that your heart will surely recognize. 

CHAPBOOK | Paperback | 102 Pages | 2026